How Libraries Can Help a Home Business

The local library is a treasure house of resources that can help your home business build a client base and promote services.

If you are in the process of starting a home business, you are probably wondering about local resources that may be able to help you build a client base and advertise your product. You don't have to rely exclusively on the classified ads anymore.

Here are some creative ways in which you can take advantage of an array of services made available through your local public library.

1. Check out the business indices. You can browse publications like Dun and Bradstreet with a broad range of business reports and information. There are also business and finance Web logs, global economy publications, and others on ethics and responsibility. If your library doesn't have these on hand, they can be ordered through interlibrary loan. Free journals, government reports, and other resources are available for review at your convenience.

2. Borrow business books to read when you have time. You can get self-help books on starting a business or others related to building a home-based company. Best sellers by blue chip company CEO's and self-made millionaires can offer tips on how to build a business from scratch. You can get accounting blueprints, business plans, and marketing strategies for free reading when you stop by the library to check out the offerings.

3. Give a talk at the library for those who might be interested in what you are offering in terms of products of services. For example, if you are starting a home-based plumbing business, ask the library if you can give a free demonstration to the public on how to fix a leaky faucet. Make up fliers and distribute them in advance to draw interested people to the event. Libraries love to provide educational talks or demonstrations to the community, so they may be able to promote your talk. Take several business cards with you in case some of your audience members want to get in touch with you for a consultation or have you come and check a more serious plumbing problem at their homes.

4. Ask about tax forms when filing time comes each spring. Libraries often provide state and federal tax forms of all kinds, so you can count on getting those you need at a convenient location. Supplemental filing forms are often available as well, along with handy guides for tax preparation.

5. Participate in other library programs and events. For example, there may be a speaker series on home repair. Attend these when possible so you can start making connections that will help your business. If your library doesn't already offer this type of series, why not propose one? Contact other professionals in your area to see about creating a pool of small business resources that can benefit others, and then arrange a four- or six-week speaker's series to help residents in your community.

6. Look for miscellaneous guides and support items. Foreign language audiotapes can prepare you to serve immigrants in your area. Magazine subscriptions in your field of expertise may be available for additional reading. Travel guides and information for cities that host conventions can save you time and money.

Whatever your home based business needs may be, stop by the library to see what they can offer. Be prepared to offer a little bit of information in exchange, and everyone can benefit.

Written by Debra Johanyak - © 2002 Pagewise

Seven Businesses Perfect for the Home

Yes, many businesses do follow the stereotypical evolution from corner of the living room to the corner office.

But there are many small businesses that, in fact, are better suited to the cozy confines of the home front. In this column, I'll specifically discuss seven businesses that are perfect for the work-at-home crowd.

Before I do that, however, you need to understand that are three specific criteria you need to evaluate before you decide to set up shop at home:

Client contact. This is perhaps the first issue to tackle in determining whether a business can reasonably remain and prosper at home, or whether it's better to move it elsewhere. Think carefully how much, if any, sort of client contact your business may bring about and, in turn, whether that contact may be suitable for a home office. Gauge how much "professionalism" — at least in the conventional sense of the term — your clients and customers demand. If that can be achieved adequately at home, perhaps through a separate entrance and special meeting room, fine. But for many businesses, the better solution is a separate office.

Branding. This is not to suggest that a professional persona can only be achieved outside of the house. Far from it. Rather, it depends more on how the people with whom you work have come to see you and your abilities. If, by chance, you're an attorney who does a first-class job of representing large companies but does so from the loft of a New England farmhouse, that reputation actually depends, in part, on keeping your office down on the farm. "It really all matters on the brand that you've built up," says Julian Lang, a professor of entrepreneurship at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass. "No matter what you do for a living, staying at home can mean you've disdained all the trappings. It can be seen as quaint and neat."

People and products. No matter how professional you keep things at home, you need to understand that an eventual need for employees or space to store what you sell may force even the best organized home office to emigrate. So, if your product is largely intellectual or something that you can do by your lonesome, chances are better that you'll be able to stay at home. As Lang points out: "If you have too many employees or products stocked all over your house, you really don't have a house any more."

With those three broad considerations in mind, have a look at a quick list of businesses that, in fact, are better suited to a home office rather than an outside location, as well as some businesses that just won't cut it on the home front:

Home bodies

Architect: This could well be the ideal at-home business. Not only can you work pretty much by yourself, having prospective clients stop by actually sells your business. "I, for one, would never hire an architect without seeing what his or her own house looked like," says Lisa Kanarek, founder of Home Office Life.com. "There, you see the proof is in the pudding."

Interior designer: The same dynamics as a home-based architect, only with an emphasis on how the home is decorated. "Does the designer have a beautiful home that's nicely decorated, or do you see paintings of dogs playing pool?" asks Kanarek.Home builders: Again, do you live in an eye-grabbing home or one fit for the cover of Hovel Monthly?

Cooking-related professions: If you write cookbooks or food reviews, it's better to have a full kitchen nearby rather than an old microwave down the hall with Velveeta stains that date from the Carter administration. "I know that the columnist Heloise works at home because she's always testing recipes," says Kanarek.

Caterer: This is actually more of a maybe. While proximity to cooking facilities is a major plus, certain jurisdictions mandate health licensure to prepare large quantities of food. Check with your city or county health department.

Computer professions: From Web designers to software engineers, computer work meshes beautifully with home offices. It's often solitary work, with no or modest product storage requirements. And, if Lang's observation about persona holds true, what better image than the counterculture computer genius ensconced at work at home?Service professionals: What I mean here are those businesses where most of the work is actually in other people's homes or businesses. This can range from cleaning services to home repair to carpentry work. The work done at home is mostly phone calls with clients, setting appointments and doing accounting and paperwork.

Office bound

Physicians: With apologies to Bill Cosby's television home-based doctor who waddled into his basement to perform pelvic exams, most doctors are far better taking their stethoscopes to an outside office. Necessary space, necessary medical equipment, not to mention the professional persona yet again.

Mental health pros: While the idea of a home office may seem comforting to persons seeking counseling, the issue of absolute privacy often nixes the idea, not only in terms of a solitary meeting room. Consider how your clients may feel walking into a home that the neighbors know houses a psychiatrist or some other therapist.

Businesses with sensitive records: Once more, this can depend. For instance, a CPA may run a thriving home-based practice. But give some consideration if you generate a pile of for-your-eyes-only material. "If you're an attorney, doctor or accountant, you don't want to give a party and have someone walk into your home office and see three years' worth of records on your desk," says Kanarek.

By Jeff Wuorio, an award-winning writer and columnist, and is the author of "The CNBC Guide to Money and Markets." For more information, check out his Web site: http://www.jeffwuorio.com